


Friendship Bracelets

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [47]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Wee Bree, domestic frasers, somebody needs an OT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 22:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Fine motor skills are not Brianna's forte.





	Friendship Bracelets

                                                        

Fine motor skills were not on Brianna’s list of finely honed skills. Not at all. Climbing? No problem. Running? Running away from adults was not a problem. Jumping, galloping, and balancing didn’t pose a challenge to her either. Fine motor skills did, and that concerned Claire enough that she was going to work on it.

Typically it was Faith who concerned them. She had her own timeline for life and for development. Since she was born early, they had expected some of that. Having Bree be the one to cause concern was unusual though. That was just how Faith and Bree were different.

“Sassenach, the lass’s pediatrician isna concerned wi’ how she’s progressing, aye?” Jamie confirmed one morning as Claire’s brow furrowed while Brianna struggled to fasten a button on her sweater.

“Well, no,” she huffed. “But _we’re_ the ones with her all the time and we know she isn’t advanced in this respect. It may not concern her doctor at present but we are supposed to keep an eye on things.”

Jamie waited patiently for his wife to continue, knowing that she needed reassurance and calm. It always astonished him that she could take a small problem and turn it into a personal failure, as if she’d done something wrong to cause this hurdle in Brianna’s life when in reality, Claire was the most selfless person he knew.

“Maybe when she was smaller I should have-” She was abruptly stopped.

By her husband’s lips.

He slowly pulled away and began to speak, mumbling against her. “Ye shouldna have done anything other than what ye already do, Claire. Ye do more than enough, _are_ more than enough.” Jamie knew that being who she was, she couldn’t let the issue lie but would continue to push for solutions and growth. As long as she knew the truth, that was fine with him.

To begin with, Faith and Bree played with dough and [playdough](https://livingwellmom.com/easy-homemade-playdough-recipe/) on a regular basis. Both girls had always loved helping in the kitchen so giving them their own small ball of dough which they could roll, pinch, and pat into shape was a simple pleasure that thrilled them and helped develop and practice those trickier motor patterns in their tiny hands and fingers. Faith excelled. Bree did not.

For more practice, and for something that would appeal to Bree’s penchant for noise and action, Claire had made two “[hungry monsters](https://therapyfunzone.net/blog/feed-the-mouth-ball/)” for the girls to feed. By cutting a “mouth” on one side of a tennis ball and drawing eyes on them, she had the monsters ready. Faith begged for eyelashes on her monster. Both toddlers would squeeze their tennis ball until the mouth opened then they’d feed their monster tiny bites of whatever was on the menu that day, usually small beads or marbles. Bree continued to throw her monster (“itsa ball!”) more than she fed it.

They laced dry pasta onto strings at one point. Claire had [colored the pasta](https://happyhooligans.ca/dye-pasta-easy-way/) so that they could practice making patterns as well. She vowed never to take the time to color the pasta again as Brianna spent more time experimenting with pasta-crushing than lacing. Claire found it under large books, under the feet of chairs, under their shoes at the front door, and several other places for months after they’d done the project.

Next on the quickly dwindling list of ideas was the [pom pom pickup](http://www.cbc.ca/parents/play/view/nine-ways-to-use-clothespins-during-playtime). Claire and Faith used clothespins to pick up fluffy pom poms and move them from one bowl to another, Faith all the while saying “come over here, fluffy!” to each little ball of fuzz. Bree watched. She called the pom poms “yucky fluff.” She didn’t participate.  

Then they used food. That was a game-changer.

“Here girls. We’re going to put Cheerios on a string to make a necklace!” She tried to infuse her voice with enthusiasm, knowing that Brianna could sense work from a mile away. Maybe she _was_ pushing too hard over such a small concern.

“O’s ona sting? Puttin’ o’s ona sting, Mama?” She shimmied a bit closer to see what the big deal was.

“I _love_ necklaces!” Faith gasped dramatically. “Thanks, Mama, for the fun necklaces!” She plopped down in the tiny chair at the child-sized table and began to string as Claire knotted the end so her work wouldn’t slide right off.

“My am doin’ a necklace too?” Brianna nearly toppled the other chair in her hast to join them.

“Of course, Bree baby,” Claire laughed at her eager daughters. “Here’s your string so you can make a necklace too.”

Immediately Brianna began to eat the cereal and Claire was just about to intervene when she began to put it on the string. It was slow and painstaking, but she was working. The round, porous cereal stuck to her sweaty little fingers at times, making Claire smile.

Small brow furrowed in concentration, Bree continued to lace until she had a completed necklace, a major victory both in regards to attentiveness _and_ development. “We am doin’ more stings, Mama?”

“We’ll do more necklaces tomorrow, lovey. How about we get Froot Loops as a treat and we can use those?” They were due for a trip to buy groceries anyway. With four children they were _always_ due for groceries, actually.

“Yep. We can eat ‘em, Mama?” she asked the most important question in her little world.

“Don’t eat the string, Bree. Just the O’s, ok?” Faith raised her eyebrows at her sister in seriousness.

“Yep,” Bree shot back before biting the Cheerios off her string, leaving a trail of crumbs in her wake.

The following day they repeated the process with Froot Loops. Claire had decided that it might be a better option to make “friendship bracelets” out of the sugary cereal instead of giving her older daughters enough to make entire necklaces.

A string was taped to the table in front of both Brianna and Faith and a small bowl sat beside each girl. Willa and Fergus “watched” from their bouncer seats, quietly, or not-so-quietly, babbling to themselves and each other. Brianna had sobbed dramatically that because “we am all friends,” the babies needed to be there too.

“Look, _mon petit chou_ ,” Faith dangled a partially strung bracelet above Fergus’ head as he flailed his arms wildly, unable to manage enough to control to grab at the colorful object in front of him. He smiled adoringly and cooed at his big sister.

“Look, sister!” Bree mimicked in a demanding tone. “Lookit mine bracelet!” She tugged the piece of tape off the table and twirled the bracelet toward Willa who screeched with delight, kicking her chubby legs with vigor.

Faith gently reached out to grab Bree’s wildly waving hand. “Careful with your pretty bracelet, Bree.” Then she tugged Brianna over to Claire who had been observing from the other side of the kitchen as she worked. “Maybe Mama can tie them for us!”

Holding out her bracelet in one hand and her empty wrist of the other, Faith allowed her mama to tie on the bracelet. Contentedly, she walked back to show Fergus and Willa who gurgled and screeched in what was apparently an encouraging manner since she planted herself in front of them and continued to seek their feedback.

“Bree Baby, I’m so proud of your hard work on your bracelet,” Claire told her second daughter, tenderly sweeping the curls off Brianna’s forehead to plant a kiss there. She tied the bracelet then handed it back to Bree.

“I makin’ it for you, Mama,” she stated, the smile she’d inherited from her father spreading across her chubby toddler face. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my Bree. To the moon and back, sweet girl.”

* * *

 

Links to the play dough, “monsters”, colored pasta, and pom pom game are all in the story.

Image source: https://www.themaven.net/kidsactivities/kidsactivities/play-dough-recipe-great-gift-idea-no-cook-playdough-_Heop7yloE6HN3G2HJfVlw/

 


End file.
